


Unfolding Time

by pennedgalaxyarchive (pennedgalaxy)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 22:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3786226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennedgalaxy/pseuds/pennedgalaxyarchive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the accelerator exploded it didn't give anyone their meta abilities, instead it killed hundreds and those that would have gained their gifts are dead. The shock wave of the blast did however fracture space and time, now Central City is caught in a time loop. Their only salvation? Hartley Rathaway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unfolding Time

An explosion coloured the sky, sound echoed through the night and Hartley Rathaway flinched at the sight of such apparent chaos. He blinked behind a pair of cold fogged glasses as the sky rippled with light and matter. The ground almost shook with the force of it and slowly the waves of abstract light faded from the blank black canvas of the night. Hartley frowned as he realised where the blast had originated from.  STAR Labs.

He hissed into the evening air and wrapped his coat around himself as he pulled out his cell phone, he dialed a number he had, only hours ago, deleted from his phone.  “Harrison?” He questioned into the receiver. “Pick up, you fool.”

The call rang out, empty, hollow and untouched by his former boss. Harrison could be dead for all he knew, and that would serve him right, wouldn’t it? He’d cut corners and lied so many times, he deserved to have his whole world ripped away. Just like he had done to Hartley. Despite all of his past transgressions, a hollow concern bubbled deep within his chest. Harrison Wells had ruined his life, or perhaps that was a tad overdramatic? Still, Harrison had been a mentor to him, had shaped and molded him during their time together, only to kick him to the curve once he was no longer needed.                                                                            

He dialed his cell phone again and growled as his phone denoted a lack of signal. He rubbed his chilled hands together and jogged his way past the flickering street lamps and the confused pedestrians circling around STAR Labs. He made his way through the crowds and into the back entrance wherein he fiddled with the locking system for longer than he’d like to admit. Eventually the metal door opened and cautiously he stepped inside.

“Harrison?” He called out anxiously.

Hartley’s eyes widened when he caught sight of Harrison standing in the hallway leading to the accelerator, the metal door was slammed shut tight and the controls had been locked down. Harrison was dressed in a black suit, he looked dishevelled, his hair was in disarray and his face was bare, his glasses were nowhere to be seen.

In his eyes flashed many emotions, fear, sadness and a rage unlike anything he had ever seen.

“It didn’t work.” He heard the scientist muttered. “Why didn’t it work? All my calculations were correct-”

To Hartley’s ears Harrison sounded an odd sort of desperate, the kind of desperate a calm and charismatic man like Harrison would never display.  The oddness of the moment filled his ears and eyes with information that jarred against his opinion of the other man.

“Wells-”

“-again, I’ll have to start again.”

“Dr Wells are you, are you okay-” Hartley began but was immediately silenced when Harrison's form began to blur.

Hartley caught sight of a dark frown overcoming the other man’s face before the sound of fast feet against stone fractured his thoughts as a hand tore through his flesh. He grunted as red began to stain his skin and clothes. “Harrison-” He exclaimed with a cut off grunt.

“I told you not to come back.” Was the last thing he heard before his vision faded to black.

Hartley awoke with a start, sweat trickled down his forehead and his hands were clammy where they lay against his sheets, confusion filled him as he used his left hand to search his chest for invisible wounds. His hand brushed against warm red but otherwise untainted, undamaged and unappreciated, skin.

Hartley heaved an unconvincing laugh as he leaned atop his stack of pillows thoughtfully. He disliked Harrison and their friendship had ended on bad terms, but to dream about the other man _killing him_ ? That was dramatic even for _him_.

If he thought about Harrison any longer than he already he had, he was sure at some point all the therapists in the known universe would be immediately convinced that Hartley had some kind of _obsession_ with the man.

Still, the dream shook him from the inside out and the events of his murder played on repeat within his head. The pain had felt so real, as had the biting cold of the evening air. His imagination had always been excellent but never quite to that degree. 

He shivered unconditionally and shook his head to rid himself of the lingering memories of his dream, the images fled from his most conscious thoughts and instead they hid in the corners of his mind, less vibrant and hellishly vivid but still existent and eternal within his mind.

Hartley sighed and fumbled with his desk drawer until he had a careful grasp upon his glasses, yawning he slid them onto his face, his lips quirked slightly when the world finally became visible. He turned to his left and spied his alarm clock atop his bedside table, the clock read nine am.   

Reluctantly he pulled the covers back and retreated to his small kitchen dressed only in a pair of blue-black boxers. Tiredly he boiled some water and made himself a strong cup of coffee, he read the paper broodily as he sipped at his drink. “‘STAR Labs set to unveil new particle accelerator this evening.’” He read aloud. He gave an irritated growl and stared at the page with an angered intensity. “‘Harrison Wells, if his project is successful, stands to gain a five million dollar profit by the end of next year.’”

He clenched his fists and scrunched the page up before throwing it into a nearby bin. “Money!” He laughed. “He doesn’t care about the money, a particle accelerator could revolutionize the world.”

Harrison was certainly after _something_ but it wasn’t fame or fortune, he had more than an adequate amount of both already. Harrison wanted something beyond all of the usual motivations, what it was Hartley didn’t know, but he hoped the older man didn’t get it, whatever _it_ was.

However despite wanting Harrison to fail, he didn’t want the accelerator to. If that happened, if only a fraction of his dream were to become true, the results could be more than catastrophic. Hartley wasn’t exactly what you’d call _fond_ of people, but even he believed that thousands of lives outweighed his petty, but justified, need for revenge.

He wasn’t a boy scout by any means but he did respect human life, no matter how callous his definition of caring _was_ he still valued the boring lives of others, it was the reason he’d told Harrison about the risk of the accelerator malfunctioning. Just because he was a tad _prickly_ in his associations with people it didn’t mean he was all for the potential mass murder of thousands.

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts, with any luck the accelerator would simply cease to work, but he doubted such a failure would befall the great Harrison Wells. Still, he held out hope, luck did have a tendency to favour the capricious.  

Hartley sighed, folded his newspaper delicately and grabbed his cell phone from where it rested atop the breakfast table. He needed a job, he realised.

Harrison had fired him from STAR Labs knowing Hartley had nowhere to go and no one to bail him out. His parents, for example, couldn’t care less about their black sheep of a son. He had rejected the idea of a closeted existence and they, _they had rejected him entirely_.

He shook his head and tried to rid himself of those painful memories, he was already stressed beyond all belief, thinking about his parents would simply ruin his day before it had even begun.

Still, he did need a job, stewing in his desolate apartment would do him no good. He needed to be out there using his intellect for more than just recording Spanish soap operas with his DVR. He frowned and searched his phone for Mercury Labs’ phone number. Hartley smirked quietly to himself; joining Mercury Labs would be a small kind of revenge.  It wasn’t the kind of revenge that would keep Wells awake at night but it was a start at the very least.


End file.
